Max Lucado Daily: GIVE GOD YOUR WHISPERING THOUGHTS
In the 19th century an anonymous Russian monk set out to live in unceasing communion with God. In a book entitled, “The Way of the Pilgrim,” he tells of having one prayer constantly in his mind: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” The prayer became so internalized he constantly prayed it.
Perhaps you and I should take note. By the time your life is over, you will have spent six months at stoplights, a year and a half looking for lost stuff (double that number in my case) and a whopping five years standing in lines. Why don’t we give these moments to God? Simple phrases like, “Thank you, Father.” “Be sovereign in this hour, O Lord.” “You are my resting place, Jesus.” Just pray where you are. Let the kitchen or the office became a cathedral or the classroom a chapel. Give God your whispering thoughts!
From Just Like Jesus
Lamentations 5
Give Us a Fresh Start
“Remember, God, all we’ve been through.
Study our plight, the black mark we’ve made in history.
Our precious land has been given to outsiders,
our homes to strangers.
Orphans we are, not a father in sight,
and our mothers no better than widows.
We have to pay to drink our own water.
Even our firewood comes at a price.
We’re nothing but slaves, bullied and bowed,
worn out and without any rest.
We sold ourselves to Assyria and Egypt
just to get something to eat.
Our parents sinned and are no more,
and now we’re paying for the wrongs they did.
Slaves rule over us;
there’s no escape from their grip.
We risk our lives to gather food
in the bandit-infested desert.
Our skin has turned black as an oven,
dried out like old leather from the famine.
Our wives were raped in the streets in Zion,
and our virgins in the cities of Judah.
They hanged our princes by their hands,
dishonored our elders.
Strapping young men were put to women’s work,
mere boys forced to do men’s work.
The city gate is empty of wise elders.
Music from the young is heard no more.
All the joy is gone from our hearts.
Our dances have turned into dirges.
The crown of glory has toppled from our head.
Woe! Woe! Would that we’d never sinned!
Because of all this we’re heartsick;
we can’t see through the tears.
On Mount Zion, wrecked and ruined,
jackals pace and prowl.
And yet, God, you’re sovereign still,
your throne intact and eternal.
So why do you keep forgetting us?
Why dump us and leave us like this?
Bring us back to you, God—we’re ready to come back.
Give us a fresh start.
As it is, you’ve cruelly disowned us.
You’ve been so very angry with us.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, March 23, 2017
Read: Isaiah 66:12–16 |
God’s Message:
“I’ll pour robust well-being into her like a river,
the glory of nations like a river in flood.
You’ll nurse at her breasts,
nestle in her bosom,
and be bounced on her knees.
As a mother comforts her child,
so I’ll comfort you.
You will be comforted in Jerusalem.”
14-16 You’ll see all this and burst with joy
—you’ll feel ten feet tall—
As it becomes apparent that God is on your side
and against his enemies.
For God arrives like wildfire
and his chariots like a tornado,
A furious outburst of anger,
a rebuke fierce and fiery.
For it’s by fire that God brings judgment,
a death sentence on the human race.
Many, oh so many,
are under God’s sentence of death:
INSIGHT:
In reflecting on the exile of Israel under divine discipline, the prophet Isaiah offers hope and comfort. He sees very clearly that “the Holy One of Israel” and the Creator of all things in heaven and earth are connected. Israel had a wayward heart that is characteristic of the human race. Yet the ultimate goal of Israel’s discipline was to secure their repentance and therefore a future blessing in the eternal covenant established with His people. Certainly God’s plan for Israel’s redemption included an unexpected impulse of divine grace extended to all the peoples of the world—from every tribe, tongue, and nation: “After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb” (Rev. 7:9).
Cradled in Comfort
By Kirsten Holmberg
As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you. Isaiah 66:13
My friend entrusted me with the privilege of holding her precious, four-day-old daughter. Not long after I took the baby into my arms, she started to fuss. I hugged her closer, my cheek pressed against her head, and began to sway and hum in a gentle rhythm to soothe her. Despite these earnest attempts, and my decade and a half of parenting experience, I couldn’t pacify her. She became increasingly upset until I placed her back into the crook of her mother’s eager arm. Peace washed over her almost instantaneously; her cries subsided and her newborn frame relaxed into the safety she already trusted. My friend knew precisely how to hold and pat her daughter to alleviate her distress.
God extends comfort to His children like a mother: tender, trustworthy, and diligent in her efforts to calm her child. When we are weary or upset, He carries us affectionately in His arms. As our Father and Creator, He knows us intimately. He “will keep in perfect peace all who trust in [him], all whose thoughts are fixed on [him]” (Isa. 26:3 nlt).
As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you. Isaiah 66:13
When the troubles of this world weigh heavy on our hearts, we can find comfort in the knowledge that He protects and fights for us, His children, as a loving parent.
Lord, help me to look to You for my comfort in times of distress.
For help in finding God’s comfort, read The Lord Is My Shepherd: Rest and Renewal from Psalm 23 at discoveryseries.org/hp952.
God’s comfort soothes us perfectly.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, March 23, 2017
Am I Carnally Minded?
Where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal…? —1 Corinthians 3:3
The natural man, or unbeliever, knows nothing about carnality. The desires of the flesh warring against the Spirit, and the Spirit warring against the flesh, which began at rebirth, are what produce carnality and the awareness of it. But Paul said, “Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16). In other words, carnality will disappear.
Are you quarrelsome and easily upset over small things? Do you think that no one who is a Christian is ever like that? Paul said they are, and he connected these attitudes with carnality. Is there a truth in the Bible that instantly awakens a spirit of malice or resentment in you? If so, that is proof that you are still carnal. If the process of sanctification is continuing in your life, there will be no trace of that kind of spirit remaining.
If the Spirit of God detects anything in you that is wrong, He doesn’t ask you to make it right; He only asks you to accept the light of truth, and then He will make it right. A child of the light will confess sin instantly and stand completely open before God. But a child of the darkness will say, “Oh, I can explain that.” When the light shines and the Spirit brings conviction of sin, be a child of the light. Confess your wrongdoing, and God will deal with it. If, however, you try to vindicate yourself, you prove yourself to be a child of the darkness.
What is the proof that carnality has gone? Never deceive yourself; when carnality is gone you will know it— it is the most real thing you can imagine. And God will see to it that you have a number of opportunities to prove to yourself the miracle of His grace. The proof is in a very practical test. You will find yourself saying, “If this had happened before, I would have had the spirit of resentment!” And you will never cease to be the most amazed person on earth at what God has done for you on the inside.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
To those who have had no agony Jesus says, “I have nothing for you; stand on your own feet, square your own shoulders. I have come for the man who knows he has a bigger handful than he can cope with, who knows there are forces he cannot touch; I will do everything for him if he will let Me. Only let a man grant he needs it, and I will do it for him.” The Shadow of an Agony, 1166 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, March 23, 2017
The Reaping Or The Weeping - #7879
It was pretty funny. Our kids had reached the age where they were old enough to tell us how we did parenting them. In fact, we had gotten into one of those uproarious "remember when" conversations. The subject was various times that we had disciplined them. We explained to them how we had tried to discipline them by the principle of natural consequences-experiencing the most natural negative outcomes in the area where you disobeyed. So if you did something bad with your mouth, you didn't get to use your mouth for a while-or you got it washed out with soap. If you did something bad with your hands, you didn't get to use your hands for a while. At which point our eldest son said, "But I never did anything wrong with my bottom!" Which may be more information than you want, but that kind of launched a discussion of great spankings we have known-including the ones we are now told didn't hurt. Well, this went on for over an hour. It was a laughing and loving and learning time for all of us, and it was a reminder of what is probably a parent's biggest challenge.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Reaping Or The Weeping."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Proverbs 19:18. "Discipline your son, for in that there is hope; do not be a willing party to his death." That's a strong statement. The hope for your child's future is in your discipline of her or of him. Why? Because of a Law of the Universe that a lot of modern kids don't really believe, "A man reaps what he sows." (Galatians 6:7).
Many kids think they can sow and escape the consequences. After all, you can cover up what you did, you can take precautions. And there is often a delay between the action and the harvest, and they mistake consequences delayed for consequences canceled. But this Law of the Universe never changes and it is always true. You sure can't avoid the most serious consequences of all-the judgment of Almighty God. And only later do you realize the price you pay in lost reputation, lost trust, lost love, lost self-respect, lost opportunities, or lost innocence.
One of our major jobs as a parent is to get a simple message across-when you do wrong, something bad happens. And it takes consistent discipline to build children who believe in sowing and reaping because they have experienced it growing up. If they don't believe they'll reap, they're going to make heartbreaking choices later on. It's the reaping experienced because you lovingly disciplined them or it's going to be the weeping they're going to experience because you didn't.
Just ask old Eli, the priest of God in Samuel's day. He was a spiritual leader with two grown sons. They were perverting the ministry with their greedy and immoral lives. God tells Samuel what he said to Eli, "I told him that I would judge his family forever because of the sin he knew about; his sons made themselves contemptible and he failed to restrain them." The judgment cost Eli his sons and his ministry heritage...all because when they went out-of-bounds nothing happened.
Effective discipline teaches the law of sowing and reaping. Not punishment-discipline. Punishment is you dumping your anger on your child. That creates rebels. Discipline backs off from anger and gives the consequences that will teach the most. So try to discipline with the most natural consequences of the act, make sure the punishment fits the crime, respond immediately to the action, be sure the boundaries and penalties are decided and discussed in advance and then consistently enforced, not made up for the occasion.
Loving, consistent discipline is hard work but not nearly as hard as what happens when it's neglected, delayed, or inconsistent. Take the time. Ask God for the wisdom to carefully let your child experience the reaping of what they sow, because I'm telling you, it's either the reaping or the weeping.